Perseverance Theatre Set to Open Summerfest '14, 6/28-8/6

By: Jun. 20, 2014
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Perseverance Theatre (PT) will launch Summerfest '14: a six-week festival of three new plays, two by Alaskan writers and the 2013 Tony Award-winner for Best Play. The Alaska stories include the remount of the world premiere production of The Blue Bear adapted from Southeast writer Lynn Schooler's book, and Warriors, a world premiere by Alaskan author Dave Hunsaker about Alaska Natives in war at different times in history. The third play will be the hilarious 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Play: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang. In addition to this programming, Perseverance will present public readings of new plays and offer professional training opportunities through its Alaska Summer Theatre Institute. Summerfest runsJune 28 through August 6 at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC) in Downtown Juneau. Subscriptions options, a full festival schedule, and more information are available at http://www.perseverancetheatre.org or by calling 907-463-TIXS.

Opening June 28, the 2013 Tony award-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike! by Christopher Durang is one of the most lauded and beloved new Broadway plays of recent years. Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up. Their peace is disturbed when Masha, their movie-star sister, returns unannounced with her twenty-something boy toy, Spike and a weekend of rivalry, regret, and raucousness begins! Directed by Carolyn Howarth (The Importance of Being Earnest).

Opening June 30, the world premiere of Warriors by Alaskan author Dave Hunsaker is an exploration of Alaskan Native warriors through movement, song, and storytelling. Warriors is a play about Alaska Natives in war at different times in history: two young men in "Castner's Cutthroats", an elite scouting and fighting force in WWII survive off the land on Japanese-occupied Attu Island in 1943; two young women in the volunteer U.S. Army of 2003 transport a prisoner in Baghdad; and through music, dance, masks, and storytelling other Alaska Native warriors from times past are invoked and brought to life. Directed by David Hunsaker.

Opening July 2, the world premiere production of The Blue Bear, by Luan Schooler and Leon Ingulsrud, based on the book by Lynn Schooler. Using photographs and imagery licensed from the Michio Hoshino estate, this visually stunning production of The Blue Bear tells the story of Lynn Schooler, a wilderness guide and author from Juneau and his remarkable relationship with wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino as they search to find and photograph the rare and legendary glacier bear. This production is a remount of the world premiere production that premiered at Perseverance in 2011. Directed by Hannah Wolf, based on the original direction by Leon Ingulsrud.

Perseverance Theatre will transform the JACC into a theatre, complete with a new stage, lighting grid, and seating arrangement. The festival design team includes Scene Design by Artistic Director Art Rotch, Lighting Design by Dans Sheehan (Of Mice and Men), Costume Design by Meg Zeder (The Importance of Being Earnest), Sound Design by Lucy Peckham (Betrayal), Warriors music composition by Ed Littlefield (A Raisin in the Sun), and The Blue Bearvideo design by Greg Emetaz (The Blue Bear).

All three plays will perform in rotating calendar at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC), located at 350 Whittier St in downtown Juneau. Tickets, subscriptions, and more information are available at http://www.perseverancetheatre.org/summerfest

 


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